Severe Weather

Climate trends could mean more severe weather

New Hampshire is likely to see more extreme weather events if current climate trends continue, the state's climatologist said Monday.

Records show that 2012 was the warmest year in New Hampshire since official records began in 1895, but 2013 is getting off to a frigid start.

Granite Staters enjoyed long stretches of beautiful weather over the summer, while the spring was unusual, according to state climatologist Mary Stampone.

"Having to worry about wildfires instead of floods in March and April was very abnormal and quite shocking," she said.

Stampone said the average temperature in 2012 was 47.2 degrees, about 4 degrees above average. She said eight of the 10 warmest years on record in the state have occurred since 1990.

"We're warmer than we used to be," she said.

She also said there's a direct link between the warmup and extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy.

"And it's really a measure of how much heat is being retained in the atmosphere, and when you retain more heat in the atmosphere, the atmosphere can do more things like evaporate more water from the surface and heat the surface more," she said. "So while all these play out a little bit differently at the local or regional scales, we're just seeing an overall more active atmospheric circulation pattern that's driving these weather events."

She said it's impossible to tell whether 2013 will break temperature records.

"It's really too soon to say, but the trends in terms of our extreme weather events, I think we'll probably see some more of those going forward into 2013," she said.

Stampone said climate change is behind the warming trend. Nationally, the average temperature rose 1 degree last year, and while that may not sound like much, she said scientists are watching it closely.

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